Printable Format50-638. Jurisdiction and venue. (a) Jurisdiction. Any supplier, whether or not a resident or citizen of this state, who in person or through an agent or an instrumentality, engages in a consumer transaction in this state, thereby submits the supplier to the jurisdiction of the courts of this state as to any cause of action arising from such consumer transaction.
(b) Venue. Every action pursuant to this act shall be brought in the district court of any county in which there occurred an act or practice declared to be a violation of this act, or in which the defendant resides or the defendant's principal place of business is located. If the defendant is a nonresident and has no principal place of business within this state, then the nonresident defendant can be sued either in the district court of Shawnee county or in the district court of any county in which there occurred an act or practice declared to be a violation of this act.
History: L. 1973, ch. 217, § 16; L. 1993, ch. 177, § 4; July 1.
KANSAS COMMENT, 1973
This section on venue is basically the same as that found in the old Buyer Protection Act (former K.S.A. 50-613), except that a nonresident defendant may be sued not only in Shawnee county but also in the district court of any county where the violation occurred. This somewhat broader concept of venue is consistent with the idea of delegating public enforcement authority to local prosecuting officers in given cases.
Law Review and Bar Journal References:
Consumer protection in Tenth Judicial District, William P. Coates, Jr., 44 J.B.A.K. 67, 72 (1975).
"A New Kansas Approach to an Old Fraud," on consumer protection, Polly Higdon Wilhardt, 14 W. L.J. 623, 635 (1975).